Name:            Joseph Todd Sanders
Date of Degree:  May 16, 1992
Institution:     Mississippi State University
Major Field:     Architecture
Major Professor: Patrick A. Snadon

Title of Study: M. A. MILLER'S SKETCHBOOK OF 1860:
                CORINTH: THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
                OF A MISSISSIPPI BOOMTOWN

Pages in Study: 140

Candidate for Degree of Master of Science

        In 1860, M. A. Miller, a Civil and Mining Engineer then living
in Memphis, Tennessee, went to Corinth, Mississippi and made a
detailed, sixteen page sketchbook showing the built environment of the
entire town.  Exactly why Miller made this sketchbook is unknown but
there are three possible reasons that can be gathered from a close
examination of the document. The first may be that he planned to
produce a "bird's eye view map" of the town; the second may be that
he planned to produce architectural designs based on what he sketched;
and the third may be that he simply sketched the town as a
leisure-time activity.  By comparing his sketches with existing
photographs, engravings, and other drawings, it can be determined that
these sketches are very accurate. This sketchbook provides a unique and
invaluable picture of an antebellum, railroad boomtown in Mississippi.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Note:  Todd Sanders is now with the Mississippi Department of Archives
                and History, P.O.Box 571, Jackson, MS 39205



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